Making the case for solar as a service in Southeast Asia

(from left) Solar AI’s co-founders Luke Ong, Gérald Chablowski, and Bolong Chew / Photo credit: Solar AI Technologies

Switching to solar is expensive, even for homeowners in Singapore. Bolong Chew, co-founder and CEO of Solar AI Technologies, estimates that the average upfront cost to install a residential solar rooftop in the city-state is about US$15,000.

This partially explains why less than 1 percent of all rooftops in Southeast Asia are equipped with solar panels, according to Chew.

There’s a huge lack of trust and awareness of solar as a product.

After working for the venture arm of French renewable energy company Engie, Chew co-founded Solar AI in 2020 alongside Gérald Chablowski and Luke Ong, with “a mission to make it as simple as possible for property owners to get solar” by deploying its rent-to-own model.

The startup has just raised US$1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Earth Venture Capital, with participation from Undivided Ventures and Investible as well as climate-tech angel investor David Pardo.

“There’s a huge lack of trust and awareness of solar as a product,” Chew said in an interview with Tech in Asia. “No one will spend US$15,000 to US$20,000 on a rooftop solar system if they don’t trust the product.”

Solar AI enables homeowners to avoid the hefty cost of installing solar panels. In return, customers pay a flat monthly fee, averaging between S$275 and S$300 (US$202 and US$221). According to the startup, the fixed fee will generally be lower than customers’ electricity bill savings.

“If the system performs below the guarantee, we will pay customers back the difference based on their electricity bills,” Chew added. He also noted that other influential factors to savings include the number of solar panels, the roof space, and electricity consumption patterns of customers.

Solar AI said it has worked with about 200 residential customers in Singapore, where it primarily targets customers who do not live in public housing apartments. The value of its signed rooftop solar contracts has surpassed S$3 million (US$2.2 million).

One of Solar AI’s rooftop projects in Singapore / Photo credit: Solar AI

The startup wants to expand to Malaysia and the Philippines within the next two years. Chew believes that the opportunities lie where “the cost of electricity is high and yet the cost to build and install a rooftop solar system is lower.”

While there are no rent-to-own solar power firms in the Philippines, Solar AI will still have to compete with traditional solar companies in the country.